Secrets of the Night
by tokiwashojo
Summary: Amidst the crisis in New York, Tony Stark gets a visitor in the night who comes with fleeting touches and the sweet promise of sex. There is no need for words as those hands touch him just right. Of course we all know it's Loki, but Tony doesn't know that yet :) I wanted to explore the possibilities in the first Avengers movie and expand beyond that *cross posted in AO3
1. Chapter 1: Visitor

Tony felt great. He hadn't felt this good in ages. Well not really, but given all that has happened with Stark Industries and the emergence of S.H.I.E.L.D., suffice to say he hasn't had a lot of downtime recently.

Especially with Pepper. Pepper Potts has been the one thing that has been keeping him sane recently. Pepper has been the only thing that has kept him grounded despite all the crazy things that have been happening.

If she wasn't around, Tony might never have made it this far.

And that was the reason why Tony had given in to her request about the Stark Tower. Despite Tony's genius, the thought of using the Arc reactor in this manner had never crossed his mind. He had ideas for it to be a power source, a lot of ideas. But he could never find any way to test it. He had never thought that he could test run it on one of his own buildings. Pepper was a genius in her own right.

And really Pepper was one of the few people Tony really depended on. She had long since passed the line of casual sex friend or a plaything for Tony. But Tony never loved her. He depended on her and trusted her, but not love. Tony Stark didn't know the meaning of that word, and he saw himself as someone who probably would never fall in love.

He smiled a bit when he saw the STark Tower light up. The tower was beautiful, a beacon of light amidst the sea of lights that was New York City.

"You should see it from out here," Tony said as he maneuvered his suit back to the tower.

Pepper laughed that sweet laugh of hers as she turned her attention away from the computer and looked out through the window. "I prefer not to fly around outside in a suit thank you very much."

"Almost there sweetheart," Tony said as he finally landed on the platform. Jarvis took it from there. The AI system carefully but quickly and fluidly removed the parts that made up the Iron Man suit as Tony Stark walked down the platform and back into his tower.

Upon seeing him land, Pepper took a glass of champagne in both her hands and walked up to Tony.

"This calls for a celebration," Tony said as he smiled at her and took the glass of champagne. "This is your baby after all."

"My baby?" Pepper asked with a happy look in her eyes.

"12% your baby."

Pepper's eyes widened and an incredulous look took over her features quickly. "12%... 12%?!"

"Alright...maybe 20? Come on, who had to do all the heavy lifting?"

It was her idea yes, but without Tony none of this would have been possible anyway, right? He invented, he put everything together. She just thought of the idea. Well of course the idea was a big part of it, without it this wouldn't be here at all.

"Alright... 50 / 50."

Pepper finally turned back around and sighed. "Alright, 50 / 50," she conceded.

As Tony thought of a reply to that, Jarvis voice broke through the calm celebratory mood. Well it wasn't calm for the average person, but all this verbal nitpicking with Pepper was a whole new level of calm compared to the chaos of war that seemed to follow Tony everywhere.

"Sir, Agent Coulson is at the door."

"Tell him I'm not here."

"Sir, it seems to be very urgent."

Quickly Pepper's face changed into one of concern. She was so easily distracted, in Tony's opinion, by plights of other people.

"Tell him..."

Before he could even finish speaking, the door behind them slid open and right there stood a very serious looking Phil Coulson.

Pepper stood up quickly. "Phil!" she greeted him.

"Phil? When did that happen?" Tony asked as he stood up and followed. "His first name is Agent."

Pepper went closer and wrapped one arm around the agent as Tony dragged his legs.

Ignoring Tony's comment, Coulson greeted Pepper with a smile. Then he turned to Tony and pulled up a file. "We need you to look at this."

"I don't like being handed things."

"I like being handed things," Pepper said quickly as she took the file instead. She turned to Tony and handed it to him as she took away his glass of champagne. "You have homework."

"No I don't." But Tony still took the file and placed it on his desk. He opened the file and his eyes quickly went over the files that he could see. His eyes widened just slightly as he took in all the new information. The Avengers Initiative. This is what it was.

Pepper went close and stayed by his side. "What's going on?"

Tony clicked the files with his fingers and slowly pushed them out and on to the hologram so he could see a bigger projection of everything.

Pepper's eyes widened and she gasped as she saw all that information. "You have a lot of homework tonight."

"What about our celebration?"

"Homework," Pepper said again as she turned to Tony. She leaned in and whispered things to Tony's ear that will probably have any other man blushing. But not Tony Stark. Tony Stark never blushed no matter who he bedded. But it was a promise. And Tony liked sex enough to look forward to it.

Pepper pulled away and turned to Coulson. "Would you be able to pass by the air strip?"

And as soon as she turned away Tony turned his attention back to the files. He didn't even realize that the door had shut and that both Pepper and Coulson had left.

His attention was on everything at once. He couldn't focus. Because even for him, even for a man of his genius, people just wasn't his forte. Technology and data he could process within minutes, seconds even. But people, he just wasn't gifted in that area. And all these data about the Avengers, well, he needed time to process them.

As his mind started to focus on things, suddenly he felt something on his back. It wasn't a physical feeling, more like a warmth that soothed the ache that always came with taking his suit out for a ride.

"Woah, that champagne. Must ask Pepper where she bought this one," he said as he cranked his neck slightly to ease the soreness there.

The gentle warmth on his back slowly moved up to his neck. Thinking it was just the effect of alcohol, Tony ignored it. But the warmth made him crank his neck again, and this time, this movement made his eye catch something in the files. He frowned slightly and used his hands to zoom in on the hologram of the cube.

He knew this, he knew it from his father's files.

As soon as he took that file apart from the others, the warmth came back. "Seriously this champagne," he murmured as he grabbed his glass again and took a great big gulp.

It took a while, but the warmth began to spread. But it wasn't like any other alcohol though. It felt like... well it felt like hands, warm hands kneading his back and neck, taking away the ache. But that was crazy because he was alone.

Tony Tony Tony, he grumbled in his head as he pulled up the file about this cube. There was so much data from S.H.I.E.L.D. but Tony had already seen most of these.

"Ghost of the old man," he grumbled as the memory of Howard Stark threatened to invade is mind right now. "Nope, got homework or else Pepper would never give me any tomorrow night."

But he focused on the task at hand. Or at least he tried to. Because damn the warmth on his body was spreading. In the end he managed. It took him minutes to dissect information he already knew so the tesseract had been easy. But the files of the Avengers took him a while to digest. When he was finally done, the clock had already struck 3 am.

"That long huh?" he grumbled as he glanced at the clock. "Jarvis, lights off," he muttered as he kept the files and then landed on his bed with a soft oomph.

"Sir, might I say that this is pretty early for you to..."

"Can it Jarvis. With all these loonies getting put into action, I'm sure captain tighty pants won't have us sleeping because duty calls. So I'm gonna sleep when I still can."

"Goodnight to you too sir."

And with that the room fell silent. Well as silent as it could be because Tony could hear himself groan from the added pressure on his back.

The warm pressure on his back was back.

There's no one in the room or else Jarvis would have alerted him already. So Tony just discounted it as his brain being overworked, undersexed, or the champagne, or all of that altogether. Or maybe he was dreaming. Yeah maybe that was it.

"Best massage ever... mmph," he groaned as the pressure grew and it was seriously turning into a massage. He was truly dreaming because how else could he imagine such details like hands on his back and... legs. It was moving down, and hell his legs were sore. So it was all good.

Those hands slowly moved down his legs and pressed into his inner thighs.

"Oh yeah," he groaned into his pillow.

Then his eyes lit up. "Ok so if this is a dream, then you're probably gonna have to up your ante. Could a blowjob be included in this?" he chuckled as he turned over on his back.

But his chuckles died down as the ghost hands slowly moved up between his legs. "Holy shit..." he gasped but the pressure on his legs didn't let up. Not only did it not let up. It was slowly getting closer and closer until Tony felt it on his cock.

Tony groaned. What a weird dream this was becoming. But to hell with it. It was his dream, so he could do pretty much anything he wanted right?

So he spread his legs and let the warmth spread easier. "It's my dream, my control right?" As soon as he said that, he felt a sudden tight grip on his cock and he let out a hiss.

"Fuck, no control? Fine, do as you please ghost hands," he grumbled. And the pressure let off.

"Weird dream," he muttered. Only to have a gasp torn from his lips. The ghost hands slowly wrapped around his shaft and stroked. It felt heavenly. It was just right. It was confident and it felt so good, not unlike any other partner or any other wet dream he's ever had.

"Not too tight, gonna cum too soon if you keep that up... ah... said not too tight." But already Tony was writhing. The warmth was keeping a constant pressure on his cock and it was just what he wanted.

These ghost hands knew just what he wanted. What he expected from a wet dream right?

"This is weird, but damn it feels good," he groaned as he felt the pressure tighten again. He didn't need to look to know that he was hard.

He gave another groan, groaning into the silence of his room.

He felt the pressure move some more, caressing up and down, and then a gentle pressure on his balls and the playboy let out a loud moan. This was better than any of the other hand jobs he had ever experienced before.

Then the pressure began to move faster and Tony bucked off the bed unconsciously. "Fuck... that feels good," he groaned as he bucked again, consciously this time. It felt really good and he wanted more.

"M...more..." he groaned.

And that seemed to be the magic word. As soon as he had said that, he felt the touch tighten and move faster on his cock, bringing him closer to release.

Tony gasped as he felt that familiar clenching in his abdomen. "Gotta be a dream, don't cum this fast... ahhh!" he gasped again as the pace picked up some more and he came suddenly.

Then he could swear he could hear a chuckle in the night air. But again, there was no one else but him in this room. So yeah again, part of his dream.

"That was the best imaginary handjob I've gotten," Tony groaned as he laid back down into the sheets.

But it seemed as though his imaginary partner wasn't about to end yet.  
With a warmth to his ear and a tingle on his neck, "Oh this just keeps getting better and better," he groaned.

His eyes fluttered shut as the warmth spread down to his chest and stomach. There was a ghostly touch to his arc reactor. But he barely cared because there was more warmth over his chest. It was more than the fleeting touches earlier. If Tony were to describe it, it felt like a person was lying on his chest. But again, there was no one there, was there?

 _"Go to sleep..._ "

Tony's eyes popped open when he heard those words whispered in his ear. Wait that wasn't supposed to...

A light green light sparked close to his ear and flowed down over his eyes that slowly made his eyes feel heavy, heavier than when he first laid there.

 _"Go to sleep Man of Iron."_

"Mmm yeah ok," he mumbled as he finally did doze off to recharge for the chaos that would lay ahead. 


	2. Chapter 2: Morning After

It was the first time in many months that Tony has been able to sleep peacefully. No dreams meant no nightmares. And really Tony has been having a lot of it recently.

Even with Pepper by his side, even with Jarvis in all his advanced capabilities, even with the iron man suit so close, nothing helped his nightmares. Nothing helped stop the images of dying and suffering civilians because of Stark industries.

How many months has it been? Tony couldn't remember. All he knew was that every time, he would wake from his nightmares, his skin glistening with sweat and his throat hoarse as if he's been screaming.

Nothing helped, and Tony was too proud to go to any doctor.

But this morning was different, and it was a good kind of different.

Tony blinked his groggy eyes. His eyes were blurry, still heavy with sleep. But even with eyes that were functioning at less than 10%, he saw that his computer was turned on. There was a faint image of his arc reactor...

Strange. He remembered turning the computer off last night. And wasn't he looking at the tesseract?

He felt the bed shift slightly. Again strange. Wasn't he alone?

 _Must still be dreaming._

And with that thought, Tony drifted back to sleep. And sleep he did.

It want until hours later that he woke up and he stretched his arms over his head. He let out a deep breath as he blinked to clear his sleep heavy eyes. That was the best sleep he'd had in a few months.

"Jarvis?"

"Good morning to you too sir."

Tony smiled. He felt great. Why? He had no idea. It's just that he felt like he had slept more peacefully today than all those nights before. He had no way of telling for sure, because he didn't have the leisure to go through all of Jarvis's logs. He was a narcissist but he wouldn't watch a sleeping video of himself, especially if said video might contain images of him screaming and writhing because of his nightmares.

Unless there was a security threat. And even then he'd just ask Jarvis to go through the logs and report to him any anomaly. Jarvis would go as far as to analyze them on his own too. That was his programing after all. It was up to Tony to ask him for those analysis reports.

"Sir I should remind you..."

"'I'll take the Mark 6. The Mark 7 isn't ready yet.'

"It should be ready in two week's time."

"Make it one Jarvis," Tony said as he pulled the blanket off and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Sir one week is..."

"Oh I know you'll make it work out somehow."

"As always sir."

Tony chuckled as he pulled his hand down and took a deep breath. He looked down at the sheets and sighed. "All a dream huh?" But the stains in his sheets were obviously real and he sighed again. "Haven't had this problem in a long time," he muttered as he got up and tugged the sheet off the bed. "Never came in my dreams before."

He dropped the soiled linens into the hole in the wall that brought all his dirty laundry down to the central laundry room. Everything was automated here in Stark Tower, as Tony designed it.

He gave his arms another stretch and then walked in the nude to his bathroom. He walked into the shower and the warm water automatically turned on and Tony felt the warm water coming down on him.

The water came down around him and Tony let out a loud sigh. "This feels good," he groaned as the water just did the right thing and helped relax his sore muscles.

 _Better than last night?_

Tony froze and his eyes widened slightly. He wasn't dreaming now was he? Unless he had slipped, banged his head, and didn't even realize he was out.

"Fuck, think I'm going crazy."

This time he _definitely_ heard a chuckle.

Warmth that was too nice to come from the shower (not that the shower wasn't nice, but this was even better), and one that was so familiar for Tony because he just had a first taste last night, started spreading across his back and shoulders.

"Fucking dream," Tony muttered as stretched his back and he felt the warmth spread downwards.

 _Keep telling yourself that._

And with that the warmth spread down to his legs and Tony let out a loud groan. "Fuck..." he cursed as he felt something creeping between his legs and stroking his balls in just the most delicious way possible.

"I got a really perverted mind," he muttered to himself.

Again another chuckle.

The voice he was hearing, it wasn't even right to call it a voice, because it wasn't. It was just something he was hearing in his head. Was this how it was to become crazy? Maybe? Tony didn't want to think he was becoming crazy. But what other explanation was there?

He wasn't a fan of the occult or anything spiritual. Tony's only god was science and that meant he didn't believe in fairy tales about spirits and gods. If it existed then science could prove it, no matter how long it took.

So what was happening to him right now could only be explained through ... well presumed madness? Because there was no one here with him, yet he could so clearly _feel_ something hold him, touch him, and pleasure him with so much efficiency that it probably wasn't human.

Even the voice itself was strange. He couldn't tell if it was man or woman. It was just. in. his. head. Like having someone else thinking in your mind. There's no way of telling if it's a girl or a boy, except that you know it's not yours.

The warmth slowly changed into phantom hands once more and Tony could just feel long nimble fingers wrapping around his cock and slowly stroking. The pleasure was enough to drag him back from his thoughts, from analyzing the situation. Well what else was there to analyze when Tony couldn't see anything.

A loud groan was pulled from his lips when he felt the phantom hand slowly stroke down his cock, and pressed into his slit. Tony reached out and placed his hands on the tiled wall and took a deep shaky breath. It felt so damn good.

And before he could even scold himself for having such a strange and vivid imagination, Tony began to hump the air. He needed it, he needed more. He wanted more.

Again that damn chuckle and Tony had to growl lowly. "Stop making fun of me."

The chuckling in his mind died down and it was quiet as the pressure around his cock built up. He bit his lip even as a groan slipped out again.

The phantom hand that was working on his cock, slowly gripped tighter and began to move in an even stroke. It wasn't fast and hard, well not yet, and already Tony felt like he was getting close.

"This can't be right," he muttered as he felt the familiar warmth pooling in his abdomen. "Ahh.." he groaned again when the hand began to move faster. "Damn it...shit,..." he cursed as his eyes fluttered close and pleasure coursed through his body.

It wasn't even half as long as actual sex with a woman. But these phantom hands were bringing him to the edge faster than any partner before, both real and imagined, Tony realized.

"Too fast," he muttered under his breath.

Those phantom hands stopped and for a moment Tony thought that he was spared the humiliation of reaching his peak this fast by unknown (and unseen) hands.

But then, that now familiar chuckle rang through his mind.

 _Already done? Don't disappoint me boy._

And with that, the phantom hands moved faster and squeezed his cock tighter. Tony couldn't hold back anymore. And with the last few pumps, he came with a startled gasp.

His body spasmed as he reached his peak. The walls of his shower stained with white and Tony took deep breaths to calm himself. "Fuck... this is ... some crazy shit."

 _You seem to like it._

Tony groaned. It was right. He did like it. What he didn't like was not knowing what was happening and who or what (if this wasn't a dream borne of insanity) his partner was.

"Damn it and I wanted the shower to wake me up," he muttered as he drenched himself in water again.

 _Why wake when your dream is so much better?_

Tony groaned. "You're still in my head," he grumbled. "Who are you?" He demanded even as he was still panting from the speed and intensity of the handjob, or whatever that was.

There was silence for a while. But then the voice spoke again.

 _My name isn't important._

"Like hell. I need to know who the hell it is messing with my head," Tony insisted.

 _In due time._

Tony rolled his eyes. "That's the same assaying I'll never find out."

 _it's not important. You seem to enjoy it even though you know nothing about your partner._

He she whatever it was had a point and Tony didn't want to admit that it did. But there was a strange excitement that came with not knowing or not seeing one's partner. And honestly Tony had played around with similar scenarios before. Blindfolds were an especially kinky route for Tony sometimes when sex became too boring. But that only happened when he at least knew the person's name.

 _oh? Blindfolds more your style then?_

Tony's eyes widened slightly. So it can read his mind as well? Well technically it was _in_ his mind to begin with.

"Get out of my head."

 _You'll never get me out of your head. No matter what you try._

Tony groaned and rolled his eyes. "Is this like a game to you?"

 _And what if it is? You seem to be enjoying it as much as I do._

"If you turned out to be out of this world ugly then I probably won't be enjoying myself thank you very much. I think you're hiding so I won't be loathed by your ugliness."

 _Funny human. I enjoy these games. I'll come back for them when I get bored again._

Come back. So there would be more. And Tony didn't understand why, all things considered, that notion scared and excited him both at the same time.

And just like that the presence in his mind vanished.

Tony sighed. What the hell was wrong with him and why was he talking to a voice in his head?

"Sir? If I may interrupt your shower, you may want to take a look at this."

Tony shook his head and splashed cold water into his face to wake himself up properly. He turned around and grabbed a towel to dry himself off, while the shower automatically turned itself off.

"Show it to me Jarvis," Tony said as he quickly wiped himself down and tossed the towel aside.

And with that, Jarvis activated the hologram that showed Tony Stark all the tracking that S.H.I.E.L.D. was doing. It seemed they were looking for someone, but who it was Tony didn't know yet.

"My my,someone's busy. Jarvis, keep an eye on everything. Let me know when they get a hit."

"I'll keep you updated sir. Would you like me to pull up everything under the Tesseract sir?"

"Yup, gotta read it all if I wanna learn it all before all the fun begins," Tony said with a smirk. He rubbed his hands together as all the files were pulled out and opened at his disposal. "Now it's time to master thermo nuclear astrophysics. Doesn't seem like too much trouble."


	3. Chapter 3: Emerald Green

Tony hadn't done an all nighter like this in a long time. His was finishing up on Dr. Selvig's work on the Tesseract. He had to hand it to the good doctor. The findings and research was as detailed as he had hoped.

He forefinger tapped the warm glass of coffee in his hand. His eyes were focused, but there was no mistaking the dark circles under his eyes.

Suddenly a loud beeping sound came from one of the screens that depicted SHIELD radar. The beeping sound alerted him of activity and Tony Stark looked up from his reading material.

"Sir, it seems that S.H.I.E.L.D is on the move."

"Where?" Tony asked as he got up and closed all the files pertaining to the Tesseract. He closed the hologram that he was using as an interface and went straight for his suit. He went to the monitor to make some last minute calibrations to his Mark 6. "Any idea who it is they're looking for?"

"Germany sir. They're silent over their comms. All I'm picking up is the ping of their radar."

Tony muttered something under his breath. "They're being cautious. Could be because of the Tesseract. All the more reason to crash the party don't you think?"

"Ms Potts wouldn't agree ..."

Tony laughed at his AI's sense of humor. "Remind me again who you work for?" He took a deep breath and stepped onto the platform, initiating the sequence. He felt the now familiar tightness of his suit. It was a comfort, the smell of the iron casing, the familiar grinding of gears as he got ready, it all served to make him feel more secure and safe. Not that he was safe as Tony Stark. But the human body could only take on so much damage.

"Got the coordinates Jarvis?"

"Already uploaded to your system sir."

Tony smiled. "Good, time to rock and roll baby," he said as the mask sealed over his face and fully activated the Iron Man suit. With that, he activated his thrusters and blasted off, into the night.

Tony didn't know the target, but as soon as he reached the coordinates Jarvis had laid out for him, he immediately saw the Quinjet. Hm, interesting. It wasn't an all out S.H.I.E.L.D armada. He expected more, especially after all that speech from Fury last time telling him how unqualified he was. But maybe this wasn't such a big target?

With a smirk, he made Jarvis hack into the PA system of the Quinjet. Oh perfect, just one person in there, and someone he knew so well, or not, depending on how you defined "know". Because this person was buried under a lot of layers and seriously Tony doubted if anyone really knew her at all.

"Agent Romanoff. You miss me?" he said into his mouthpiece, and he knew she heard him. He could already imagine her rolling her eyes as his AC/DC music blasted over her PA system.

He was flashy. He couldn't help it.

It wasn't easy to miss the two fighting men beneath the Quinjet. He saw the star and the blue costume and Tony had to roll his eyes. The Soldier with a big capital letter S. The man his father obsessed about. He now took back what he said about this not being a big target. Any super soldier his father made (thank god there's only one), could hold off more than any S.H.I.E.L.D battalion could, no matter how big.

His father was an asshole of a dad, but he knew his thing.

Tony aimed at the ... was that a man wearing a helmet with two horns sticking out like an elk? Tony didn't know if he was stepping into a fight or a drunken costume party, and he knows he's had his share of that in the past.

Whatever.

He aimed and shot, throwing the man back towards the concrete.

And the man was still alive. He saw him stand and he saw him sit up. Guess he wasn't just a normal guy after all.

Tony landed in front of him and activated most of his firepower and aimed. "Make your move Reindeer Games," he said as he felt Steve move to his side.

Then, if Tony wasn't there, if he hadn't seen it with his bare eyes, he would say it was a trick. But the armor that the man had on, even those ridiculous horns, vanished into nothing but a glimmer of gold. And Tony saw it disappear.

This was going to be a long long night.

But now that the armor and helmet was gone, Tony finally recognized him from the files Coulson gave him last night. S.H.I.E.L.D didn't give him much intel on the man. Except that he was from out of this world and that he was after the Tesseract.

For now, the man had his hands up in surrender and he stopped himself from shooting him. "Good move," he said as put down his arms as well.

"Mr Stark."

Ah yes, introductions. They were never properly introduced yet after all.

"Captain."

As Tony put down his arms and his weapons, Steve nodded at him. "Secure him, I'll go tell SHIELD that we already have it under control."

Tony didn't like being told what to do. But the fight was done and it wasn't like there wasn't anything else he could do. At least his presence had made the enemy surrender.

Tony smirked inside his suit. Made him surrender when the captain wasn't able to. That was one point for him.

He didn't respond to Steve but as soon as he took the first step forward, Steve already knew that he was going to secure Loki. So Steve went back to the Quinjet to inform Natasha about Loki's capture.

Tony walked towards Loki. Now that his armor was gone, Tony was finally able to see him properly. Pale skin, long slender legs and arms, slick black hair, and the greenest eyes Tony has ever seen.

He looked too... Perfect to be human. It was like he was molded from the best wax there was. Or he had a reallllly good dermatologist or plastic surgeon. There was no wrinkle on his face, no blemish, no nothing.

And those eyes.

Tony has seen his share of green eyes. Those were too green to be human. It was like staring at a pair of emerald gems instead of eyes.

The man wasn't intimidating. No, Tony Stark was never intimated. It was more than that.

It was his presence.

There was something about it that Tony could not place his finger on. And it worries Tony slightly to think that there was someone who could carry himself with such a presence. He wasn't human that was for sure.

At first he didn't want to believe what the files had said. That this man was a god from Asgard. Tony felt really stupid for even believing what the files said for a moment but now that he's seen the god, he was starting to understand the weight of this problem.

If someone like this got the Tesseract...

At that moment, the green eyes that were looking down at the ground finally raised. It swept over his armor before settling on his helmet.

And Tony could swear he could see him inside the suit.

And the intensity of it... Tony couldn't place it. It was like those eyes could pierce him, that was how intense it was. He was really thankful that he had his suit on, because he didn't know what kind of face he had on right now in the presence of such intensity.

"Congratulations, you've caught me."

That voice was smooth, smoother than Tony had ever heard someone speak before. This man, god, could sweet talk a lesser man to his death, that was for sure.

Thank God Tony Stark wasn't a lesser man.

"Yup, fun and games is over. Get up," Tony said as he approached.

The thin lips curved slightly upwards and Loki stood up. Without his armor he looked less bulky, but his presence stayed the same.

There was something about that smile that told Tony that fun and games wasn't over yet. And that unnerved him somewhat. He couldn't let his guard down.

Loki's eyes flicked over to him again. "I am your prisoner yet you let me walk freely?"

Tony rolled his eyes. Who cares about specifics?

Then Loki's hand moved. The long slender fingers danced across the iron plating on Tony's forearm. "A man of iron and metal, interesting," the god all but purred.

Tony pulled his hand back, quickly. He didn't know what it was. He shouldn't feel the touch because of his armor. But he did. and that unnerved Tony.

"Get moving Rock of Ages," Tony muttered.

"Of course. Don't want to keep anyone waiting now do we?"

Tony knew that tone. It was dripping with mischief. And he'd done his research. In Norse mythology, Loki was the god of mischief right? Seriously this night was getting stranger by the minute if he was starting to believe in folklore.

"Exactly, now hurry it up or ..."

"Or what? You'll carry me man of iron?"

"I'll break your legs then drag you there."

"That isn't very romantic."

Again Tony rolled his eyes. "No one wants romance here, and certainly not with you. And I would much prefer a pretty thing with tits and a nice booty. Now get moving."

This time Loki's lips curled into a smirk. He didn't speak, he just smirked at Tony and then started to walk.

He clenched his fist. He could still "feel" the god's touch linger on his arm.

Tony didn't like this. Nope he didn't like this at all.


	4. Chapter 4: Damn Good Hands

And Tony was right. Wasn't he always?

He didn't like this night at all.

First of all, his suit was damaged.

Second, Loki was almost taken. Ok, given that Thor didn't succeed in the end and Loki was brought back to the Quinjet anyway. But that wasn't the point.

Third. Well. He didn't really forget how uneasy he had felt when he mentioned "My stuff" to Thor. It was like there were eyes watching him. He didn't dare think that it was the mysterious "thing" who visited him the other night. But what if it was? If it had made itself known during battle, how awkward would that have been?

When they all got to the Helicarrier, Loki was chained and led away by guards. Steve went to wherever, along with Thor. Natasha probably went off to report to Nick Fury. Tony was escorted to one of the rooms. So it seems he wasn't being thrown out of the party. Yey.

"Hm, not bad," he commented as he was brought on board. His eyes scanned the aircraft and he had to give his nod of approval. Some of the tech used was "borrowed" from Stark Industries after all. Now that he minded. Ok he minded (not for the money, but whatever the hell it was S.H.I.E.L.D. could do behind his back.) But if it made this ship work, then by all means. He didn't want to die a premature death because of a second rate carrier with Hammer Tech... that carrier probably wouldn't even make it to lift off.

Tony shivered at the thought of getting into a carrier that good for nothing Hammer designed.

Before moving to his room, Tony made sure to see that his suit was carefully put away. The docking area for his suit was crude, unlike the one he had at home. This one was obviously hastily put together. Well what do you know, they had prepared for him to join them, even if it was last minute.

He placed the suit inside carefully. Jarvis wasn't there to help him, but he could do it himself.

After he had secured his suit, Tony made his way back to his temporary quarters on this ship. It wasn't fancy. But what was he hoping for? This was a ship after all, military grade. Although, if he did have a hand in the designs...

Tony chuckled to himself and shook his head. No way Fury would let him have a hand in this whatsoever. They had made it clear before that they needed Iron Man, and maybe all of Stark Tech, but not Tony. "Ain't no Stark Industries without the brain behind it," he had said when he read that report back then. Well now he was part of the team, Fury was actually desperate enough to overturn his own decision about Tony before even if it was done last minute. Though he doubted if he was allowed to tinker with the Quinjet or the Helicarrier.

The room looked simple enough. There was a bunk bed. Yup, this was made for two people. But maybe Fury thought he wouldn't play along well with anyone else and just left him to bunk alone. All the better for Tony. He didn't like to share... unless there was sex involved, or a lot of science.

The room was a dull gray. Obviously home decor and interior design had no place in a battleship. There was one desk, no windows, and a shower room.

"No computer, radio, or tv. Seriously, how can I live here?" Tony had asked himself as soon as he saw it. But he had to make do.

Tony closed the door behind him, calling up Jarvis as soon as the door slid shut. Jarvis may not be on board with him, but he was still connected to his AI either via his Iron Man helmet or the device on his wrist. "Remind me to consider stronger metal for the outer layer of the Mark 7."

"I doubt any known metal would stand a chance against that hammer sir."

"Who said anything about a hammer?"

There was silence from the AI and Tony laughed.

"No hammer. I just want to upgrade the defense system."

"If you say so sir."

Tony shook his head. If he knew better, he'd say the AI had no sense of humor. He sat down on the chair by the desk and activated the hologram on the device on his wrist. "Display damage."

And as soon as he saw it, he winced inwardly. That much damage from such a quick fight. How many upgrades should he take note of? "We don't have all the equipment we need to make a complete fix, but we can check what they have here on the ship and we'll have to make do."

"Sir, based on my diagnostics, we should be able to repair it."

"Good. As long as I can use it, it should be fine. We can do the full repair when we get home." Tony shrank the huge hologram down to a smaller scale one and had it hover above the desk so it was easier to access. "Jarvis, can you check what equipment they have on board so we can see which repairs can be done now and which ones I have to postpone till later?"

 _Is that all you really want to learn?_

Tony froze. There it was again.

He took a deep breath. He was on the Helicarrier. If there was an intruder, Fury and his agents would be all over it. And, Jarvis couldn't do a full sweep unless he was inside the mainframe of the ship, he couldn't scan the ship from a remote location. And getting him into the mainframe was not gonna happen in Fury's watch.

He didn't respond, and was rewarded with silence. He thought he was alone again. But when it spoke once more, a few minutes out, Tony felt his hair stand on end.

 _Jarvis won't be able to do much. It's not your ship Stark_. _But are you not at all curious as to what the good Director is hiding?_

It knew his name. It knew about Jarvis. It knew what he was doing right now.

 _Of course I do boy, I'm in your head, have you forgotten? You let me in so easily._

Tony tried to push his chair back and move away from the table, but he couldn't. He felt the chair stop there, unmoving, as if someone was holding it in place. "Now isn't the time for..."

 _Why not? What to do with all this adrenaline from fighting the soldier and my b - that baffoon?_

Tony promptly felt the (familiar by now) warm pressure rub down his shoulders, squeezing with just the right pressure to squeeze the muscles before his pain threshold. "Are we downplaying to massages now?" Tony groaned as he felt those hands knead his muscles. He tried to squirm free. But the hold on him tightened whenever he tried to.

 _Well no. But I will not have you this tense._

Tony felt his body, the traitorous bastard, relax under the warm touches. It didn't take long for the pressure to go lower and massage his lower back, further relaxing his tense body.

But then, as he felt the pressure move forward to his shoulders and pecs, it suddenly felt... real. Well the other times he got this phantom treatment, it felt like it was just there. Hell it felt good. But it never felt like there was another person in there with him. He felt the warmth, he felt the pleasures, he felt the pressure. But this time, he felt more than that.

He felt distinctly long fingers pressing on to his skin.

And he definitely felt another person settling on his lap. "Fu...fuck... this is crazy," he muttered, as someone he couldn't see just climbed on to his lap and press closer to his body. He could feel the pressure from a pair strong thighs pinning his own down on the chair and Tony took a deep breath.

He should really get out of was the logical thing to do. The safe thing.

But since when was Tony playing on the safe side?

So instead of moving away, of fighting the touches, he reached out towards his front, towards that empty space where there was supposed to be nothing.

And Tony let out a surprised sound when he felt what was unmistakeably a body, a body on his, a body pinning his own down on the chair.

"This can't be real, holy shit," he groaned as the pressure became heavier, forcing him to stay down on the chair.

 _Yes it is real, the quicker you accept that the easier this will be for you._

"And you're still speaking to me in my head. What the hell ...fuck is ahhh this?" Tony couldn't help but moan as the hands slipped under his shirt and touched his skin. It didn't feel like pressure anymore. It felt like real fucking hands, and long slender fingers caressing his skin.

 _What Stark? You enjoyed this all the other times, just close your eyes and feel_.

Tony let out a shaky breath when he felt the fingers ghost over his nipple, first one then another. He never considered himself to be a nipple play kind of guy. But the way these hands worked him, it just undid him so easily.

His nipples were erect and sensitive in no time, and Tony let out another shaky breath as those fingers moved to tug and pinch now. "Sh...shit..." he groaned. Because just as the pinching started, he felt the pressure on his crotch. It felt like a knee, and that knee was rubbing his clothed erection in the most delicious of ways.

There was silence from his invisible visitor but Tony could feel that the touches were getting more pronounced. Each stroke, each rub, each pinch, managed to send jolts of pleasure down his spine. "Who are ... you?" Tony groaned the question.

Again silence, but the next action had Tony gasping and forgetting his question. He felt a hand reach down into his pants, he didn't even realize that the button and zipper was getting undone, and it quickly pushed away his thoughts. "Fuck!" he gasped, as he brought his arm up and used it to cover his mouth. Because he wasn't home, and to hell with anyone who heard him on this ship. He didn't want S.H.I.E.L.D. to have a record of how he sounded when he was having fun.

The hand carefully and expertly stroked his cock in a way that Tony had never been stroked before. Not even comparable to how his one night stands did it, hell... it wasn't even comparable to what his invisible visitor had done just the previous night and the morning after, and those two were already mind blowing as mind blowing was.

 _There we go. Just enjoy it boy._

"Sh...shut ...i...ahhhhh~!" Tony gasped as he jerked into that expert hand. He was getting close, too damn fast, again! The hand moved down to casually tug on his balls, earning another gasp of pleasure from Tony, and another twitch from his already too sensitive cock.  
His body, his damn traitorous body was being played like a fucking instrument. And before he could curse his own weakness, his mind was becoming muddled in pleasure and his hips rolling into that invisible hand that was stroking him to completion with such expert ease.

Tony wanted to know who he was. He wanted to know a name at least. Or at least proof that this invisible person, creature, whatever it was was real and not just a twisted figment of his imagination.

But all questions faded from his conscious mind as a wave of pleasure washed over him and he came with a strangled cry, and the hands disappeared as a whispered warning flickered across his mind.

 _Stay away from the beast._


	5. Chapter 5: SHIELD Secrets

_But are you not at all curious as to what the good Director is hiding?_

That question haunted Tony far more than the thought of his phantom lover as soon as he recovered from what could have been the most mind blowing hand job he's ever had.

What did he know? What did anyone know about S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Nothing.

Could you really trust a spy?

Well, he could doubt if Romanoff or Barton even knew half of what was happening in S.H.I.E.L.D. He doubted that spies were honest with other spies. So Fury must be keeping them in the dark about a lot of things as well. Eyepatch was the big bad father of spies after all.

... _what the good Director is hiding?_

Tony grit his teeth as he realized the simple answer.

Nothing. He knew nothing about S.H.I.E.L.D.

He knew something about the other candidates in the Avengers Initiative, but even those were information that Fury had given to him so Tony didn't know if he should trust all of it or not. And surely Fury was keeping things from him too given the vague background he had put in Romanoff and Barton's files.

Ok so tiny pieces of the truth about the Avengers.

But about S.H.I.E.L.D., nothing.

And Tony Stark hated knowing nothing.

"Jarvis?" he called out.

"Yes sir," the AI's voice was softer because it was just coming out of the devise on his wrist. Not Jarvis at 100% but it would do. He trusted his AI and his programming skills above anything else after all.

"You're going to get really busy."

Tony could feel his heart thudding hard against his chest. It was a bold move, putting Jarvis up to hack S.H.I.E.L.D. He was confident in his creation's hacking skills, but it still had him worried somehow.

There was always a risk of being hacked back. But S.H.I.E.L.D didn't have anyone smart enough in their employ as far as Tony knew. That eased his worries a little bit. And somehow he had pulled it off. It's been a few hours, and no one was sounding the alarm.

"You seem distracted."

Tony looked up from his screen and smirked at Bruce. "You haven't known me enough to know how I look like when I'm distracted," he said, voice haughty and not showing an ounce of his own distraction and uncertainty.

Bruce smiled from where he was standing. "I've observed enough people to know Mr. Stark."

"Tony."

"I'll try."

Tony huffed and walked closer to Bruce. "I jumped from Dr Banner to Bruce in less than five minutes. We've been holed up in here for a few hours already and you still can't call me by my first name?"

"As you can see we're both really busy. So it's not really the best time for socializing."

"Busy with what? We've already recalibrated all the sensors to detect gamma radiation," Tony muttered as he toyed with a small electric rod in his hand. It was used for testing but Tony wasn't using it for testing at all. He was bored, being cooped up here for hours without any of his usual machines to tinker with. He was a hands on man and just looking at tests and readings on a screen was boring him to death. Recalibrating had been too easy. And as with any other genius mind, giving an easy task will just bore them so quickly.

"Can't we at least play with that?" Tony finally asked when he realized Bruce wouldn't grace him with an answer as the good doctor was already looking at his screens and adjusting data instead of looking at Tony.

Bruce looked up, saw where Tony was pointing, and quickly said, "No."

"Whyyyy?" Tony was whining and he knew. "Because Eyepatch said so?"

"Because we don't know what it can do for certain. Not yet. We need to study it more."

Tony looked longingly at the staff and sighed. "I'm a hands on kind of guy."

"It's alien tech. Might blast off your hand if you're not careful."

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes. "You don't think I can handle it."

"I don't think anyone could handle it," Bruce sighed as he turned his attention back to the monitor and raised some of the gauges to see the reaction in Gamma radiation from the sensors. The scepter sat in the very center of the tables, as the machines tried and failed to analyze it. And Tony really wanted to get his hands on it because it seemed to be the only thing worth his time in this damn room.

Tony sighed as he toyed with the electrical rod in his hands. Then, getting an idea, he got up and walked towards Bruce. "You know, if you like this lab, you're going to love Stark Tower. It's gonna be like candyland. You can get a whole floor to yourself and all the machines and gadgets you'd need for your research. "

"I don't think you'd want to share your home with the other gu... hey!" Bruce gasped as he felt the sharp pain from the electric rod.

"Nothing?" Tony asked as he looked into Bruce's eyes to check if there was a flash of green or anything.

He could swear he heard a chuckle behind his ear as he stared Bruce down. But before he could even dwell on it, that his invisible visitor was following him around now, Rogers promptly walked in.

Well walk was an understatemen. He stormed in, obviously upset with something.

"You want to have us all killed Stark?" he demanded and Tony rolled his eyes.

Oh captain captain captain. Tony, completely distracted from the chuckle he heard before, focused on his father's perfect soldier.

"Hello to you too Spangles."

Bruce interruped with a softly said, "I'm ok. I wouldn't have agreed to board the ship if I couldn't handle pointy things," as he went back to his data.

"That does not warrant any childish behaviour from Stark."

Tony rolled his eyes. He really wanted to punch Mr Perfect to kingdom come. But he wouldn't stand a chance without his suit.

"Childish. Of course, coming from a what... 80 year old capsicle? give or take a few years?"

Tony could see how Rogers' jaw tightened. Oh he was starting to get pissed. This really was one of Tony's special skills wasn't it?

"Shouldn't you be looking for the Tesseract? You really need to focus on the problem Mr. Stark."

"You think I'm not? Oh I'm focusing on the problem. Million dollar question. What is S.H.I.E.L.D. doing with the Tesseract in the first place? "

Rogers was quiet for a while as he seemed to take in Tony's question instead of reacting mindlessly. His annoyed face quickly shifting to a concerned one as he asked, "You think he's hiding something?"

"Yes Captain Obvious. Or should I say Captain Oblivious," Tony smirked as he raised his hand and waved it around them. "It isn't just coincidence all of this. Bruce's concerned too."

Rogers turned to Bruce.. "Doctor?"

Bruce sighed and removed his glasses so he could massage the bridge of his nose. "Don't tell me this doesn't sound at least a little suspicious to you captain? The Tesseract's been with S.H.I.E.L.D. for a while according to Dr Selvig's notes. We were given the files from his studies, but there was nothing there about the uses of the Tesseract. They made us understand how it worked, or at least the theories, but what it could be used for, what it was capable of, they never even mentioned it."

Rogers regarded Bruce with a calm although resigned look. And Tony knew that look. It meant that even the good captain was having his doubts.

"A warm light for all mankind," Bruce continued. "Loki's jab at Fury, it felt like it was meant for you," he said as he looked at Tony. "Those were the words you used when you launched the Stark Tower, a warm light for all mankind, stable renewable energy."

"Stark tower, that ugly..."

"Don't even think of finishing that sentence," Tony muttered at Rogers.

"Now I doubt Fury or S.H.I.E.L.D is in the energy saving business," Bruce continued.

"And that begs the question. What is he hiding. What is S.H.I.E.L.D hiding?" Tony added, his eyes trailed on Rogers, reading the expressions on his face. "What will they use the Tesseract for?"

"How do you intend to find out? It's not like he's going to answer just because we asked," Rogers said, brows furrowed. He was thinking about it, obviously concerned about this as well.

"Jarvis."

"Your computer?"

"He's technically not, well he's a program, artificial intelligence, and... never mind," Tony trailed off as Roger's expression looked so lost that Tony felt he was being generous for stopping. "Yes my computer. He's already hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D's system as we speak. In a few minutes, I'll know every little secret S.H.I.E.L.D's trying to hide."

Rogers frowned slightly at that. "And you wonder why they don't trust you."

Tony barked out a laugh. "And you think they trust you any more than me?"

Rogers pursed his lips and Tony shook his head. "I know you don't approve my methods, but even you must think that there's something out of place here in S.H.I.E.L.D."

Rogers let out a sigh and stood up."Just stay out of trouble," he muttered before leaving the room and heading out to the corridor.

Tony raised an eyebrow and then looked at Bruce. "I guess that's the closest we'd get to approval?"

Banner just sighed and went back to his work. "I think it sounded more like a dad telling the kids to stay out of trouble."

"That was verbatim."

BAnner sighed again and went back to his data.


	6. Chapter 6: Puzzle Pieces

Romanoff felt her heart thudding in her chest. The man.. no this god, looked like he was harmless. He wasn't as big as Thor, nor did he look as strong as Rogers. Instead he was lanky and rather slender, and this frame on someone else would look downright harmless, given the amount of testosterone she had to work with on a daily basis. But there was something about him that frightened Romanoff in ways that no other target ever had.

And Romanoff knew from experience that underestimating anyone could end your life. So she never did, no matter how weak a target seemed to be.

Romanoff kept her calm demeanor, no reason to make the prisoner think that she was so nervous on the inside. If there was anyone who was a master of schooling her emotions, it was Romanoff.

"My my, came to gloat?"

That voice filtered through the air and Romanoff felt a shiver run down her spine. There was something about Loki. She remembered Thor's words about his brother - Silver Tongue, Liesmith. Romanoff felt no hostility from Thor when he said that though, it was as if telling her his brother was a big fat liar was a normal thing.

Perhaps it was. And because of this, even though Romanoff had never really spoken with him before, it was better to be cautious, more cautious than she was with other targets.

Loki had only begun to speak, and Romanoff was prepared to bring her A game. If it was a war of words and facades, Romanoff would win this. If Loki was a liesmith, then the Widow would spin her own web of lies.

"I came... with a request."

Or so she thought.

"Ah, the spider comes to bargain for the hawk?"

Damn this man was good. Was Romanoff too obvious? Or had he really taken control of Barton enough for him to reveal his and Romanoff's working relationship? Romanoff felt one too many questions running through her mind and this was not good.

Loki raised an eyebrow as he asked his question, his green eyes staring at Romanoff, following her every move. Then his lips slowly formed a small smirk. "Why yes, if you wonder how I know. Barton told me everything."

Romanoff felt her blood run cold. Yes Barton was compromised, but it wasn't what made her worried. She was already prepared for that. What really worried her was that Loki COULD read her this easily.

"Do not fret little spider," Loki purred, obviously enjoying this game. "I will not kill your hawk." His eyebrow lowered and a mischievous glint sparkled in his eyes. "Now humor me little spider. Tell me, what is there to gain by bringing me here on board this aircraft? Are you not worried? if I were to bring down this plane, would you be able to do something about it?"

"I'm not a genius with machines like Stark is," Romanoff muttered, not liking that she didn't know where this conversation was always wanted to know where a conversation was headed, that way she could prepare for it. "But we won't let you bring this bird down. That's why you're in there."

"Stark, indeed," Loki murmured, his eyes moving away from Natasha and focusing on the wall beside her for a moment. And then it was back to her as if his gaze never moved. .

And again Natasha felt her blood run cold as Loki's lips curled up into a grin. "Now that everyone's gathered around us, maybe it's time for some fireworks? I would love to see you all tear each other apart. Especially that huge green beast you've brought on board."

Romanoff frowned. "So...Banner. That's your play?"

It unnerved her how Loki's grin just got wider. "Indeed it is. You seem so confident that you have me in this cage. But what you're really worried about is what's outside. You've put me in his cage which is obviously not built for me as your beloved director has oh so conveniently told me earlier, now I wonder what you will do when the good doctor gets... out of control?"

Tony felt like a child with a toy. As soon as Jarvis told him the hack was complete, he immediately plugged his mobile device to the display in the lab where he and Banner were was always fun to look around other people's secrets.

Especially S.H.I.E.L.D's secrets.

But this wasn't all of them, Tony realized with a small frown... somehow there were some files that were too encrypted for Jarvis to work on via mobile. If Jarvis had direct access this would be easier. But Jarvis was only connected remotely via the mobile device and wasn't at his full hacking capability. Jarvis managed to get through the 4th encryption. But there were some files that were even deeper than that. If Stark wanted to learn ALL of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets, then he had to get Jarvis into the SHIELD mainframe directly.

He had to access those files next time.

Besides, he already found the information he wanted to find at the moment.

His hands stilled over the monitor and he felt a cold sweat form on his skin, the excitement frome earlier gone now as he absorbed all this new information. "Obadaiah all over again," he muttered.

Bruce looked up from his work. "Oba what?"

Tony ran his hand across his face, trying to calm himself as thoughts of Obadiah Stane filled his mind.  
"This is not happening again," he growled lowly. Advanced tech was really a menace when put in the hands of idiots, or geniuses with a homicidal tendency. Tony was just glad he was neither.

"Are those what I think they are?"

Tony turned to look at Bruce as the doctor came closer to the monitor. Banner had a calm look on his face, but his eyes told a totally different story. Tony could see the anger in them. And though he felt a sliver of fear deep within at the idea of Banner getting angry, he really couldn't blame him. Tony felt a whole lot of angry right now too.

"Clean energy huh?" Tony joked. But it came out dry and forced.

"Aren't you two supposed to be looking for the Tesseract?"

"Woah, deja vu, I swear someone just asked me that like 30 minutes ago," Tony said as he looked up from the screen and towards the glowering figure of Nick Fury. He smirked at the man as he turned the screen around so Nick could see what he was looking at. "But really, you're just the man we needed to see. Care to explain Phase 2?"

"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D producing Nuclear weapons," Rogers completed as he dragged two weapons that looked like some of the prototypes Tony had found in the S.H.I.E.L.D files. This confirmed it. S.H.I.E.L.D was manufacturing weapons, nuclear weapons based on the Tesseract. And it made Tony's blood boil.

"Are you planning on taking over the market that I vacated? You never struck me as a businessman. Want to take over my title as the Merchant of Death too? With the eyepatch and all?"

Tony's tone was teasing, but the underlying anger in it was obvious enough for everyone in the room.

"Care to explain yourself Director?" Steve asked as he placed the weapons on the table.

Fury opened his lips to speak but wasn't able to as both Thor and Romanoff burst into the room.

"Dr Banner, I need you to come with me."

Tony watched as Banner turned his wide angry eyes from Fury to Romanoff. "Why? Because I'm questioning why SHIELD is building weapons of mass destruction?"

Romanoff frowned slightly as she took in the angry look in Banner's eyes and the tense atmosphere in the room. She didn't know what was happening but she knew she had to get Banner out of here, at least to a less stressful environment and as far away from Loki as possible. "Bruce, Loki is manipulating you..."

Loki is manipulating you. Those words drifted to Tony's mind like an annoying itch. Loki, the trickster god, capable of manipulating...

But Tony was unable to dwell on that thought as everyone began to speak at the same time, arguing with each other and the noise gradually snapped him out of his own thoughts.

Then Tony noticed something. The scepter wasn't on its stand anymore.

His eyes widened slightly and he took a deep breath when he realized who was holding it. And no one else noticed because everyone was arguing with everyone else.

"Bruce."

"What?!" came the angry response, and Tony saw that Banner's anger filled eyes focus on him now.

Tony took another deep breath. Boy, even in this form, Bruce could be frightening, if only because of what you knew came after all this anger. "Put down the scepter," he said as slowly and as gently as he could.

The wild look in Bruce's eyes calmed down slightly as the weight of Tony's words settled in his mind. He looked down at his hand and was about to speak, but the beeping sound from the scanners beat him to it.

"Finally," he muttered as he placed the scepter back on to its stand and walked over to the monitor.

"Well that was entertaining."

"Stark, don't start," Romanoff muttered as she and the others turned their attention to Banner.

Banner put on his glasses and looked at the data displayed on the monitor. his forehead creased as he looked at the screen. "This can't be right..." he muttered.

Tony leaned in to peak at the data. "It's gotta be malfunctioning, there's no way it's this close to...!"

Tony failed to finish his sentence as an explosion rocked the ship. It knocked everyone off their feet. Tony felt his head throbbing and his ears ringing from the explosion. And it took him a good few minutes to scramble to his feet. He was so rocked that he didn't even mind Rogers' hand reaching for his and helping him up.

"Thanks," he murmured as he let Rogers pull him out and they both quickly ran out of the destroyed room.

"Get in your suit," Rogers said quickly. It was minute, but Tony noted the shortness of breath. So even the super soldier could get affected by blasts like these. Tony would smile to that in hindsight. Right now he had more important things to take care of.

"I'll meet you outside," he said quickly as he separated from Steve and ran to where his suit was stored. He opened the hatch and a wave of relief flowed through him.

Tony may have it all, but he was still an ordinary mortal. Between the spies, the gods, the super soldier and the thing that Banner becomes, Tony felt like an easy squishable human with no special skills but for his wit.

That's why the Iron Man suit made him feel relief, because with it he could fight, with it he could stand on equal ground with all these miracles of science, history and mythology.

"What a crazy world you live in Tony Stark," he muttered to himself as he stepped inside the suit and powered it up.

"Jarvis?"

"Scanning complete sir, the engine is not functioning properly. If we lose one more engine I don't think the aircraft can maintain lift."

"We can't have that now can we?"

"Stark, the engine..."

"Already on my way Fury," he muttered as the director butted in. They must already be implementing the earpieces he had proposed before because how else would Fury be able to get into his line?. He wasn't told that it was implemented, but again surprise surprise, SHIELD was full of secrets.

"Cap, meet me at the 2nd engine," Tony said as he burst through the opening in the ship left by the blast and sped through the air, going straight for the damaged engine.

This was going to be a long day.


	7. Chapter 7: Him

Tony was pissed, mightily so. Because everyone else was fighting and he has beenv stuck repairing the stupid engine for the past twenty minutes. It wasn't like he enjoyed fighting, he really didn't. But it felt kind of weird that everyone was hogging all the action and Tony Stark was left doing repairs.

So he was the only one who could do it and if he didn't then the Helicarrier would just drop from the sky. Of course he was proud that other than him, no one else could fix this bird. But still... it kind of irked him that he was the only one left out of the action.

"How does it look?" Steve's voice broke him out of his thoughts.

Ok not the only one.

Tony scanned the destroyed engine. It wasn't completely totalled. In fact, the only reason it stopped was because of debris that lodged between two of the rotor blades. Tony inhaled deeply. That blast earlier was strong enough to destroy the engine properly. It was by some sort of luck that the only damage was this and it was easily fixable.

"Not as bad as it looks," Tony said as he looked at where Steve was standing.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Jammed. I just need to get rid of the debris and I should be able to give the rotor blades a push until it restarts."

"Need help?"

Tony wanted to tease him. Like what help could he do when he hardly knew anything about modern technology. But this wasn't the right time for it, not at all, not even for Tony. They had to get this fixed.

"Yeah, actually I do. Open that ... that electric box in front of you. That big dark menta looking Box thing. See it?"

"Electric box? Yeah I see it. Should I open it?"

"Yup, open it." Tony's mind raced. How. Just how in the world should he dumb it down so that Rogers would understand and not make this even worse? If he pressed the wrong button, touched the wrong wire, it could make everything worse not better. But at least Rogers was just a man out of time, if Thor was here Tony just dreaded having to explain modern day electrical wiring to the fucking god of lightning.

"I see wires, it must run on some sort of electricity."

Genius.

"Got that right cap. Now see that red lever on the side? I need you to pull that when I say you do. If not that engine is gonna pull me in and rip me to shreds."

"Got it Stark.I've got your back."

"You better. Coz I don't wanna go down like this."

And with that Tony stepped into the banged up engine. He used his sensors to scan it again. He could see it, that large metal plate that had conveniently lodged itself between the blades of the engine rotors.

Tony went closer to the debris and tried to push it off. But it wouldn't budge.

"Son of a..."

Tony powered up his boosters, trying to gain more lift. It still wouldn't budge.

"This won't be easy," he muttered as he pulled back. He looked at the protruding metal and grumbled. "And here I thought I could just push it off and walk away."

"That's not going to happen sir."

"Jarvis, when did you turn into Pepper?"

"You programmed me sir, not Ms Potts."

"Yeah yeah I did," Tony muttered as he checked the thickness of the slab and calculated how much energy was needed to cut through it without damaging the rotors around it.

"I hate cutting metal and wasting it."

"I'm sure the others share your sentiments sir."

"Hey this is delicate work!" Tony whined to his AI as he activated the lasers on his wrist. "One time use and I'm wasting it on repair work," he grumbled as he fired the laser. "Remind me to redesign this part for the mark 8."

"Already on your list sir."

"Good man."

"Are you done talking?" Rogers' voice came over the telecom louder than was probably intended and Tony winced as the loud shout echoed in his ear and his straight laser line didn't look so straight anymore.

"Sheesh, no need to shout. I can hear you fine Caps," he grumbled, thankful that the distraction only made his line crooked but not damage the rotors around it. "And cutting through metal needs precision. Unless you want me to cut down the undamaged rotors of the engine, then that's fine too, go ahead and shout in my ear again."

"Fine... just hurry up. I don't want to waste time here when we could be helping the others."

Tony rolled his eyes. Well he wanted the same thing. But Jarvis was right, if another engine fails, they fall, they lose, even if the guys inside were winning. "Gee, think this isn't helping? If I don't start this, even if we win inside, we drop and we lose. Besides, you're not the only one who wants to help."

That shut Rogers up.

Tony charged up his boosters now As the last of the debris was cut off. He needed to get the engine a little push. "Get ready to pull that leaver when I say... Cap, Cap you there?" Tony asked as the silence from the other side was replaced by the sound of gunfire.

Ok, so he wasn't the reason Rogers shut up. Bummer.

"Better get rid of them quick Caps, I don't wanna be minced meat up here," Tony muttered as he started pushing the rotors, to give it the jump start that it needed.

"I know that" Rogers hissed into his comm. "Just give me some time."

"Don't have it. These babies won't slow down once they... uh oh..!"

Tony felt the blades move faster and faster, and no matter how much he powered up his boosters, it got a speed that there was no way he could keep up.

"Shit," he cursed lowly as the force generated by the speed of the rotating blades pulled him under the blades. And really there was nothing he could do because if Rogers didn't pull that lever, this was only going to get faster and faster. And Iron Man suit or not, there was only so much you can do against sharp and gigantic blades pushing you around like a ...

"Food processor. That's how it feels like in here. Pull that lever!"

"Who's shouting now?!" Rogers grumbled as he shot the last henchman on the leg, careful not to kill needlessly. He then scrambled to the lever that Tony had shown him earlier.

Tony felt something pierce his armor. Well not just once. Quite a few times really and it fucking hurt, Adrenaline wasn't doing jack shit to curb the pain. He cursed as he felt the metal slice through his suit like a giant processor. And his string of curses only faded away when the blades slowed down just a bit, enough for his half powered suit to slip through the in betweens.

"You ok?" Rogers sounded worried. Well he should be!

"FIne as fine can be Caps." Tony took a deep breath. He could feel the gashes on his abdomen and he was sure that he was bleeding.

"You don't look ok."

"Speak for yourself Caps."Then, taking a deep breath, Tony added, "You go on ahead, I'll catch up."

"The fighting seems to have calmed down" Rogers reminded him as he went back inside the helicarrier. It was a subtle way to tell Tony to take his time, that rushing back in won't make a difference so he better check himself out first.

Tony sighed and flew into one of the blasted open corridors and leaned against the wall. "Damage report?"

"Outer armor damage at 60% But some damage.."

"Are greater than others, yeah I can tell thank you," Tony muttered as he opened his suit so he could take a look at his own wounds without Javis bitching to him about it. it was harder to take it off without Jarvis, and Tony made mental note on how to solve this in lfuture models.

Once he had removed the body armor, he looked down, and saw his shirt stained in red. He saw the torn shirt and the gashes underneath. Both expected.

But there was something really weird going on. Because before Tony's own eyes, he could see his skin slowly repairing itself, closing and sealing the wound on its own.

"The fuck..." he groaned as he poked at the healing gash. "Fuck hurts... not a dream then," he muttered as his mind tried to grasp the idea that something, or whatever, was healing his wounds faster than any known Earth science right now.

"Sir, your wounds are healing..."

"Again shut it with the obvious Jarvis," Tony muttered. "Can you detect what's causing it?"

"I believe I can't sir. My sensors only detect that your body is healing its own, at an exponentially faster rate than normal."

"Well fuck," Tony muttered as he leaned back against the half collapsed wall and sighed. His day was getting weirder and weirder and weirder.

-

His head filled with more questions than answers, and Tony hated it. Being a man of science, not knowing things was always something he hated. And fuck, this all started with that mysterious visitor who was always coming to him in the dead of night.

He had stayed mum about his injuries, and lackoff, when he rejoined Rogers. Rogers could see the banged up suit, but he didn't pry. He seemed to trust Tony enough to know that he would take care of his own injuries.

And Tony was not in the mood to talk about his injuries and the subsequent healing that had taken place right before his very eyes. Nope, he was not talking about it with anyone, not at all. Not even with Pepper. Because his life as the Iron man was already crazy as it was, adding magic to the mix would just confuse Pepper and Tony didn't really want to talk to her about it especially when explanations might include his mysterious visitor.

So talking to Pepper about it was out of the question. Well, so was talking to the rest of the Avengers.

Especially now that Tony had rejoined the others at the bridge and he had seen most of the devastation that the attack had caused. It made him wonder just how convenient it was that the engine was busted and he and Cap were out of the melee. But at the same time, he also wondered if he would have been able to help much. He was more for outside battles, like Thor was. Indoor battles restricted his movements and made him less effective.

"... were in his pocket."

Tony didn't realize he had zoned out until he saw the cards Fury dumped on the table. Captain America trading cards. He didn't even know those existed until after meeting Coulson. Guy was obviously a fan of the Captain. As if his looks of adoration weren't enough proof.

Tony watched as Rogers picked up the bloody card closest to him and he could see the determination in those eyes. And really Tony couldn't blame him. The man knew that Coulson was a fan, and for Rogers to not have been able to do anything to help or save him must weigh heavily on his shoulders. Tony understood. But he was unfamiliar with that feeling. No one depended on him. He had felt despair and helplessness, but not this heavy sense of responsibility weighing down on your very being for people you couldn't save. Remorse for his own actions yes. But regret for not doing something you couldn't have done at that time? No, not yet.

Tony Stark looked forward, never back.

"He believed in heroes."

Tony glared at the cards on the table when he heard that line from Fury. "Heroes don't exist."

"Maybe. Doesn't change that Coulson died believing in them. In you."

"We're not heroes," Tony said lowly, carefully.

At least he wasn't, Cap was, Thor was maybe. Romanoff and Barton were nowhere near that. Banner could be but the other guy was certainly more keen to destroy than protect.

"Maybe but..."

"I think that's enough," Rogers said, his voice strangely even and calm. It seemed he was able to box in all that anger from earlier. Or, he was doing a great job at faking it. Or this was how he really was when he got he was then he really would be the perfect soldier. Harnessing his anger instead of letting it control him.

Tony sat back down and took a deep breath.

"Not the first time you've lost a soldier?" Rogers asked as he calmly looked at the card, the anger limited to just his eyes, while Tony obviously didn't know how to react to all this.

And Tony didn't like that tone either. Lost a soldier? Were they in the military now?

"In case you forgot Cap, I'm not a soldier, and neither is Banner," Tony spat, with far more venom than he wanted. He was riled up, he knew it, but he couldn't do anything about it. "We're all civilians swept off our feet by this ... war," he muttered, unsure of what to call it really. Invasion? War? Was it even a war if they stood no chance? "So no, I'm sorry if people dying is something that affects me differently from you."

Rogers finally looked up from the card and placed it back down on the table. He looked up at Tony, baby blue eyes steeled with determination and anger holding doe brown ones that were just as angry but every bit as confused. "Let's make sure he didn't give his life for nothing."

"What CAN we do?" Tony growled. "The prisoner's escaped, we don't know where Banner and Point Break are, Romanoff's shaken, Barton compromised, and Coulson's dead!"

Steve was an image of calm in the presence of Tony's panicked and angered self. Even though Steve was the one who should be more affected by Coulson's demise, it was obvious that he had gone through this a whole lot more than Tony did. Enough to let him school his emotions enough to think straight.

"Right now our team is in tatters, we're scattered, and that's exactly what Loki wants."

"Well at least someone got what they wanted," Tony said with a disbelieving laugh.

"Tony..." Rogers sighed as he ignored the presence of Fury in the room and just focused on Tony. "We can't let him get away."

"I know that," Tony snapped. He was on the edge right now, and even with Rogers using his calm to hopefully affect Tony. The billionaire looked beyond Rogers and turned his attention to Fury. "Is this in any way part of your contingent plan?"

"All the agents of SHIELD know what they're gtting into on the day they signed up for..."

"I already know we're all disposable for you. And no that's not what I meant," Tony said as Fury's frown deepened but the director kept silent and let Tony continue. "WHat I meant was this. You planned on taking Loki up here in the Helicarrier. Did you have a contingency plan for when he breaks out?"

THe silence that greets Tony just confirms his suspicion.

"I take that as a no," he muttered as he ran his hand through his hair. Using his anger and frustration, Tony forced his brain to work as it should. "So what would a god hell bent on detroying the earth want? What does he still need?"

"He has the tesseract?" Rogers offered.

"Exactly!"

Fury straightened a bit, obviously more attentive to the topic now that Tony seemed to be using his head again.

Tony began pacing, his hands moving as his brain worked out all the kinks of the situation.

"And he has an army. He has the tesseract, and we already know he's building up that thing. Making it stable and usable. Why else did he go to Stuttgart and get that meteorite?"

"So what else does he need?"

"Right again caps. If Dr. Selvig's notes are right, then all he needs now is a power source."

This time Fury joined in to the conversation. "What type of power source would he need? There's no way he could harness anything natural, he doesn't have the infrastructure."

"Maybe nuclear?" Rogers suggested.

Tony shook his head. "Both good points. You get the idea. But no, Loki won't go for that... natural is too volatile, hard to tame. Nuclear is too explosive, too much risk." Tony paused to think, his mind running through the list of possible alternates for the tesseract. "We're missing something here. It's opening night. He's a prince, a diva, he'd want something loud, something big, something like his name plastered all over the top of a buil..."

Tony trailed off as his eyes widened in realization.

Him.

It was HIM.

That's why he never showed himself. That's why he always talked in his head and never used his real voice. That's why the fucking bastard was at his 's why... everything was making sense now. Why he went there, why he went to Tony.

The arc reactor.

That was all there was to this. Loki was after the arc reactor and Tony never pieced it together until now. Fuck his own libido.

"That son of a bitch," he muttered.


End file.
